The Detention Center
Baker County Jail
- Operated byBaker County Sheriff's Office, Corrections Division
- Jail address3410 K Street, Baker City, OR 97814
- Jail phone541-523-8011
- What it holdsMen and women held separately, awaiting trial or serving sentences of less than one year; the office describes it as a maximum security facility, as all Oregon county jails are
- Phone and commissary providerTelmate, 866-516-0115, deposits through pay.gettingout.com
- Beds / year built / original cost / funding / expansionsNot found — checked the Corrections Division page, the inmate rules pages, the jail roster and the Sheriff's Office home page; the county's own website (www.bakercounty.org / bakercountyor.gov) did not respond during this research
Source: Baker County Sheriff's Office — Corrections Division · checked 2026-08-23
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Travis Ash
- Runs the jailYes — ORS 169.320 puts the sheriff in charge, and the office lists 'maintaining and operating the jail' among its own operations
- How the office is filledElected countywide; Sheriff Ash was appointed in 2015 and elected in 2016
- Office3410 K Street, Baker City, OR 97814 — 541-523-6415; jail direct line 541-523-8011
- DivisionsCivil, Dispatch, Corrections, Parole and Probation, Patrol, Reserve Program
- Corrections Division supervisors namedSgt. Jorden Osborn and Cpl. Brandon Mastrude
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Oregon State Sheriffs' Association — Baker County · checked 2026-08-23
The Judges
Oregon Circuit Court judges are elected in nonpartisan races and are state judicial officers, not county officials. Baker County's judicial district has a single elected judge, who is also its presiding judge. A judge, not the sheriff, sets security amounts and release conditions. Baker County has no justice court listed by the state court system.
Baker County Circuit Court — 8th Judicial District, Baker County Courthouse, 1995 3rd Street, Baker City
- Matthew B. Shirtcliff, Presiding Judge
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-23
The County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
- The boardBoard of County Commissioners
Notes on the record
- This county's audit is thinner than the others in the group for a reason that is itself a finding: the Baker County Sheriff's Office site is reachable and reasonably detailed, but the county government's own website did not respond at www.bakercounty.org, bakercounty.org, bakercountyor.gov or www.bakercountyor.gov during this research, so no county budget, commissioner roster or agenda page could be opened and verified.
- roster: the Sheriff's Office links a live Baker County Jail Roster hosted at jailroster.justiceconnect.us/baker, with booking number, charge status, name, age, booking date and scheduled release.
- bond_info: the Corrections Division page and both inmate-rules pages say nothing about how to post bail or a security amount.
- fees: the office names Telmate as the phone and account provider and gives its customer service number, but publishes no per-minute or commissary rate.
- The Sheriff's Office publishes a current press log and a most-wanted list through www1.bakercounty.org, which does respond, but neither carries jail capacity, budget or death-in-custody information.
- Baker County is governed by a three-member Board of Commissioners. The county's own website (www.bakercounty.org and bakercountyor.gov) would not load from this network during research, so the current members, the board page and the agenda/minutes page could not be verified and are recorded as Not found rather than guessed.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Baker County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for it.
The county clerk runs the election in Baker County and prints the ballot the sheriff’s name is on. Links from USA.gov and vote.gov.
Names verified 2026-08-23 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered